Handcuffs



S. R. MGKEE Aug. 2L 1956 HANDCUFFS Filed Feb. 15, 1.954

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INVENTOR R. MCK E E MQ@ ATTORNEY SHELDON Plas United States Patent Oce 2,759,349 Patented Aug. 21, 1956 HANDCUFFS Sheldon R. McKee, Washington, D. C., assigner to Joseph A. Lorch, Washington, D. C.

Application February 15, 1954, Serial No. 410,188

6 Claims. (Cl. 70--16) This invention relates to handcuffs, and more particularly to shackles of this type which embody a doublelocking feature.

Handcuffs of this type are customarily provided with pivoted latches for locking the pivoted wrist embracing members of the handcuif against opening movement while permitting closing movement and also with sliding bolts selectively operable to restrict movement of the pivoted members in both opening and closing directions. This has been referred to as the double lock. However, it has been found that it is possible to dislodge the sliding bolts to remove the double lock and then, by careful manipulation of one pivoted member of the handcuif to force a shim into position to hold the pivoted latch member disengaged, thus completely unlocking the handcuff.

The purpose of this invention is to provide means to prevent unauthorized retraction of the double lock or sliding bolt and thus prevent unintended release of the handcuff. The foregoing is accomplished by incorporating into the sliding bolt a key-actuated member which, in cooperation with the bolt detent, controls the sliding movement of the locking bolt, to positively retain it in its locked position.

A better understanding of this invention will be had from the drawings in which:

Fig. l is an end elevation of a pair of handcuffs embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same pair of handcuffs having portions broken away to illustrate the internal construction of the locking mechanism;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial side elevation with parts broken away to show the locking mechanism with the slidable bolt in retracted position;

Fig. 4 is a somewhat similar elevation showing the double lock or slidable bolt in locking position;

Fig. 5 is a partial section taken from line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail partly in section illustrating the operation of the secondary latch by the key.

The invention is shown as applied to a pair of handcuffs of the type illustrated in United States Patent 1,872,857, to which reference is made for details of construction not completely shown or described herein.

As is common in handculfs of this type, the complete shackle is made up of a pair of handcus permanently f linked together. Each handcuif comprises two somewhat semi-circular wrist embracing members, one, a curved solid jaw member 1, pivoted at one end to the other cornprising two spaced curved jaw members 3, the enlarged end portions of which constitute side or cheek plates S, cooperating with the generally U-shaped frame member 7, to house the locking mechanism.

The jaw member 1 is provided with ratchet teeth 9 upon one end which, when slid between the two spaced members 3 engages similar locking teeth 11 formed upon one end of the pivoted latch 13. The latter is pivoted at its opposite end to cheek plates 5 by pivot pin 15, whereby the latch may swing about its pivot to cause either engagement or disengagement of teeth 11 with teeth 9. It will be observed that as long as the latch is permitted to swing about its pivot, the member 1 can be moved in closing direction until the wrist of the wearer is tightly engaged by the two members 1 and 3. The latch is normally urged or biased toward latching position by means of a detent plunger later to be described and may be swung about its pivot to cause disengagement of the teeth Lby means of the usual key inserted through an opening in the cheek plate 5 and rotated clockwise (Figs. 2, 3, and 4) so as to cause its flag to engage shoulder 17 formed in the upper surface of the latch.

In order to retain latch 13 with its teeth 11 engaged with the teeth 9 of arm 1, a sliding bolt 21 is located within the frame 7 immediately adjacent the latch. Bolt 21 is formed with the shoulder 23 which, when the bolt is in its right or locking position (Fig. 4) overlies an abutment 25 formed on the upper side of the latch 13 and prevents movement of the latch about its pivot and away from teeth 9. The bolt is moved to its locking position by inserting a pin or the end of a key into an aperture Z7 in the frame 7, engaging plunger 29, and pushing the latter and the bolt 21 to the right (Fig. 4) into locking position. The bolt is retracted to release the latch by inserting the key and rotating it counterclockwise whereby the flag of the key engages a shoulder 31 of the bolt and slides it to the left (Figs. 2 and 3) in which position shoulder 23 clears abutment 25, thus permitting latch 13 to be pivoted, by clockwise rotation of the key, to disengage teeth 11 from teeth 9.

The mechanism so far described provides for a double lock but it has been found that in spite of springs and detents intended to hold the bolt in locking position it was possible to strike the handenif sharply to cause bolt 21 to move from its locking to its unlocked position, after which it was possible to insert a shim to make latch 13 ineffective and thus defeat the purpose of the handcuff. To prevent this, the usual detent and biasing spring and plunger for latch 13 has been modified, as has the locking bolt, as will now be described.

Adjacent its toothed end, latch bar 13 is drilled to receive a spring pressed plunger or detent 33 urged upwardly by its spring to engage either a shallow notch 35 formed adjacent the right end of bolt 21 (Fig. 3) when the latter is in retracted position or a deeper and locking hole or opening 37 when the bolt is in locking position (Figs. 4 and 6) also formed in the right end of bolt 21. The latter opening is suciently deep that the detent 33 extends substantially into the opening and thereby prevents any unauthorized movement of the bolt to unlatched position. To release the detent from this opening an independently operable pawl or disconnector 39 is set within a slot in the upper surface of the bolt 21 and pivoted thereto intermediate its ends so that the right end of the pawl overlies detent 33 when the latter is in thedeep aperture and the left end of the pawl extends into position so that it is engaged by the key when the latter is inserted in position and rotated counterclockwise. When this is done, the pawl is rotated clockwise independently of and prior to any movement of the bolt and depresses the right end of the latter to disengage the detent from the bolt, after which further rotation of the key will engage shoulder 31 and retract bolt 21 to the left, as shown more clearly in Fig. 6.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a secondary latch releasable by the key for positively preventing unauthorized movement of the locking bolt 21 which latch is positively held in locking position by entry of the detent 33 or second latch into the deep recess 37. lt will be obvious that the detent also serves the additional purpose of biasing the latching bar into latehing position by constantly urging it clockwise (Figs. 2, 3, and 4) about its pivot 15. In other words, there has been provided a double lock comprising a latch bar 13 and a bolt 21 having a secondary latch or detent 33 which prevents jarring to remove one lock and then shimming to remove the main latch to permit the solid jaw member of the handcui to be moved outwardly to release the handcuff.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that While this invention has been shown as applied to a handcuff it is equally applicable to other types of shackles or even other types of locks and that variations from the details of construction shown may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A handcut having in combination pivoted jaw members, one of said members having teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a locking mechanism, a movable latching member in said housing having teeth adapted normally to engage the teeth of said jaw member and a shoulder engageable by a key to move said latching member to release said teeth, a movable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position toy engage said latching member and prevent movement thereof, means within said housing and engaging said bolt for positively locking said bolt in locked position, and means within said housing and movable independently with respect to said bolt operable by a key for releasing said bolt locking means.

2. A handcuC having in combination pivoted jaw members, one of saidmembers having teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a locking mechanism, a pivoted latching member in said housing having teeth adapted normally tofengage the teeth of said jaw member and movable about its pivot by a key to release said teeth, a slidable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position to engage said latching member and prevent pivotal movement thereof, means urging said latchingy member into latching position and positively locking saidl bolt in locked position, and means within saidy housing and movable independently ofsaid bolt to engage' and release saidlatter means.

3. A handcuff having in combination pivoted jaw members, one-of said membershaving teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a locking mechanism, a pivoted latching member in said housing having teeth adapted normally tol engage the teeth of said jaw member and movable about its pivot by a key to release said teeth, a slidable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position to engage said latching member and prevent pivotal movement thereof, means urging said latching member into latching position and positively locking said bolt in locked position, and means pivoted to said bolt for releasing said latter means.

4. A handcuff having in combination pivoted jaw members, one of said members having teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a locking mechanism, a pivoted latching member in said housing having teeth adapted normally to engage the teeth of said jaw member and movable about its pivot by a key to release said teeth, a slidable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position to engage said latching member and prevent pivotal movement thereof, means urging said latching member into latching position and positively locking said bolt in locked position, and key-controlled means pivoted to said bolt for releasing said latter means.

5. A handcuif having in combination pivoted jaw members, one of said members having teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a looking mechanism, a pivoted latching member in said housing having teeth adapted to engage the teeth of said jaw member and movable about its pivot by a key to release said teeth, a slidable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position to` engage said latchin'g member and prevent pivotal movement thereof, a spring urged plunger between said latching member and said locking bolt normally urging the teeth of said latching member into engagement with the teeth of said jaw member and positively locking said bolt when in locked position and a movable pawl having portions engageable by a key for moving said plunger to release said bolt.

6. A handcui having in combination pivoted jaw members, one of said members having teeth upon its free end, the other of said members terminating in a housing for a locking mechanism, a pivoted latching member in said housing having teeth adapted to engage the teeth of said jaw member and movable about its pivot by a key to release said teeth, a slidable locking bolt in said housing having a shoulder thereon adapted when in locking position to` engage said latching member and prevent pivotal movement thereof, a spring urged plunger in said latching member urging the latter to latched position and engaging said bolt when the latter is in locked position to positively lock said bolt in locked position, and a pawl pivoted to said bolt and having one portion engageable with said plunger to release it from said bolt and another portion engageable by a key for moving said pawl about its pivot.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 636,589 Tower Nov. 7, 1899 1,579,333 Neal Apr. 6, 1926 1,872,857 Wesson et al Aug. 23, 1932 

